I’ve searched the archive and really can’t find a straight answer to this question.
I’ve finished sanding the hotcoat on a yellow pigmented 6-0 single fin I’ve shaped. I’m considering adding pinlines, but am really hesitant about doing a gloss coat because of the added weight on so short of a board.
So my question is, do I have to do the gloss coat over the pinlines? Obviously the gloss coat isn’t a necessary step in the normal shortboard process — you can stop after sanding the hotcoat. But I can’t find anything anywhere on what to do after pinlines. Is it ok to just put them on top of the hotcoat and be done with it?
I was planning resin pinlines, but I could do paint or posca if it would help the process.
You dont have to gloss over them. There will be a lip at the tape line so it could chip easier if something snags it. If you arent going to gloss the board you might as well use paint, or next time just spray them on the foam before laminating.
Gloss doesn’t add that much weight to a shortboard. You can gloss one side of a 6’0" with about 4-5 oz of resin. You could go back and sand that board a little more to take off some more weight too.
Most guys making there first boards don’t sand nearly enough. What usually happens though, is they sand in one spot until they burn through. Usually the nose or tail area.
Most first boards have a light hand on the lam coat (lot’s of pooling and air pockets), and a super thick hotcoat. All this makes for a heavy board, and a lot of material to be removed when sanding. As stated before…gloss doesn’t add any noticable weight if done right. And it does seal any exposed weave, which makes a longer lasting board.
Pinline, then gloss and finish sand. Try poster paint markers by "Sharpie". They work fantastic, but stay away from blue. Blue bleeds. I think a thin gloss coat adds such a minimal amount of weight as to be a non issue, plus it will cover all the places where you have some cloth showing after sanding. I always do a sanded gloss finish as opposed to a sand only, with the exception of an occasional epoxy board that I do a thick hot coat on. But then again, weight is less of an issue in my area up here in Norther CA. 4oz chippie boards fall apart real quick up here in the heavy rocky surf.
So one more question: if I do the gloss coat, I’ve already sanded the board to 220 — is that too much? WIll I have to scuff it up a little with a lower grit?
You can get away with a rougher grit if you do a gloss. It fills 60 gits scratches, but your having sanded further than that is not a problem, providing its free of finger-prints. When glossing over painted pinstripes on the filler coat, very gently rough the paint line, but not scratch right through.
Don’t be too aggressive with your brushstrokes on the paint line. Pause your cross-strokes at the line and work the rail along it, not across. Likewise if you buff…cut the gloss back with actually rubbing forcefully on the paint line. Theres nothing more disappointing than a rub-through spoiling a nice pinstripe…
If you pull the tape before it kicks (or dries, if your doing paint), and you didn’t put too much down so it runs, the wet edge will soften and sit like a bead of water with no “edge.” This resists chipping. The trick here is not to put too much material down at once. You can go back and do it again if you can still see through the pinline.
Howzit NJ, I always do 2 coats when doing pinlines, the thing is to make sure the first coat is totally dry before doing second coat. I pull the tape as soon as I have applied the second coat and never had any problems. I use a wall paper seam roller to flatten the edge before glossing.Aloha,Kokua
Howzit reverb, I have to say I never had that problem with Posca pens. The problem I encountered was the color lifting due to to many brush strokes while glossing. The styrene in the resin cuts the paint but doesn't bleed. it thins the paint and leaves light areas in the pinline. This is why I go with india ink, it's almost bullet proof. Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Wouter, What I did was take an empty Zig pen with a 6mm wedge tip and punch a hole in the bottom and fill it with india ink ( use one of those ink jet refill syringes )then seal the hole with tape. Never tried putting ink in resin and not sure it would work. When the pen runs out of ink I just refill it again. Other than pigment pins india ink is the best. Aloha,Kokua
Howzit reverb, I do 3 sets of brush strokes when laying down a gloss and that causes the color to lift. The shading you refer to is the paint lifting but it’s not really a bleed, one thing that helps is to run the gloss brush right under the pin line on your last stroke, this helps take away the shade. Other times the shade can actually be a shadow casting across the pin from the angle of your over head lights. I still use Poscas some times due to the colors available, I’ve used just about every color they offer. Aloha,Kokua